


The Rose Royale

by plazorr



Series: Casual shipping [7]
Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/F, Fluff, Tea, Venting Date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:33:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26596843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plazorr/pseuds/plazorr
Summary: The Rose Royale is a calm and elegant tea restaurant in Numazu which welcomes people who want to enjoy a little break from the outside world. Riko Sakurauchi and Dia Kurosawa chose this place to relax a bit together, away from their chaotic girlfriends.
Relationships: Kurosawa Dia/Ohara Mari, Sakurauchi Riko/Tsushima Yoshiko
Series: Casual shipping [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662025
Comments: 6
Kudos: 42





	The Rose Royale

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Ethanol for helping me with the grammar again :)

The midday sun was shining bright on the town of Numazu. It was a Saturday like many before and, just like many Saturdays before, a young woman was running through the streets, a sports bag on her shoulder. The long red hair floating in the wind behind her was a sight most of Numazu recognized, for almost everyone in town had seen her and her friends performing four years ago when they made the name of Uranohoshi enter the legend of Love Live.

Riko Sakurauchi was 21 years old. She was a beloved music teacher at Numazu high. She had a stable life and her students liked her a lot since the music she had made with Aqours was still popular in town. Her love life was looking as good as her professional career. She even recently decided to officialize her relationship with Yoshiko Tsushima, the science teacher and one who was part of her former idol group too. She also moved with her in an apartment in Numazu and, according to the rumors their students were spreading, the two lovebirds seemed to be the happiest they had ever been.

After running some more, Riko finally arrived at her destination: The Rose Royale. It was a restaurant somewhat famous for the tea they were selling and the Victorian atmosphere they wanted to create, both through decoration and the orchestral music playing all the time. It was unexpected to have such a business in a small town like Numazu, but it seemed to be doing alright. A lot of people wanted to have a little fancy experience from time to time, after all. An escape from their modern day-to-day life. Riko noted the presence of a familiar car on the outside, meaning that she wouldn’t have to wait for her date to arrive that day.

She pushed the door open and was greeted by Kyoko, one of the maids working there. There were around ten tables in the place and four of them were already taken. Riko saluted her and the maid took her sports bag from her and lead her to her usual table, telling her that Dia was already waiting there for her. 

Riko had told Yoshiko that she was going to a yoga course on Saturdays, which is why she had to take the sports bag with her when she was leaving their apartment. She couldn’t really tell her that she was actually going on a date with Dia every week. 

The 22-year old Dia Kurosawa was reading the menu while waiting for Riko to arrive. She came back to Numazu after spending 4 years in Tokyo to earn her management certification. She spent those years with Mari, who was following the same courses as her. They got closer and closer and, one thing leading to another, they eventually confessed their mutual feelings and became girlfriends, even though they decided to hide their relationship at first. Once the two girls came back to their hometown, they told the truth about their love to their parents and started preparing with their respective fathers for the day when they would have to take their posts. Being two lesbian girls in the Japanese world of work wasn’t easy for them, but they were both working hard to prove to their families that they didn’t need husbands from arranged marriages to be successful. The plan seemed to work so far, and they were living together in a house Dia’s father owned just outside of Numazu.

Dia looked up when she heard Kyoko and Riko’s footsteps. She put down her menu and gestured a hello to Riko. Kyoko let her go and went to the backroom to leave Riko’s sports bag next to Dia’s. After all, Dia was telling the same lie to Mari. They briefly hugged and sat down in front of each other.

“Sorry to be a bit late Dia, Yoshiko was particularly cuddly this morning,” Riko said, a bit embarrassed.

“It’s alright. I seized the opportunity to read more about their new flavors of tea. I suspect you’ll enjoy the new Red Soirée flavor. It has hints of strawberry and pomegranate according to Kyoko. I think it might suit your tastes.”

“Are you already taking control over everything Dia?” Riko asked with an amused smile.

“My apologies,” Dia replied with a guilty smile. “I simply thought I wouldn’t like it and that maybe you would prefer it.”

“No worries, I’m just teasing you a bit. I hope you also decided what you’ll drink yourself and didn’t only focus on finding the perfect flavor for me.”

“Oh, come on! I already have enough of one teaser at home. Give me a break please.”

They both chuckled at the mention of a break. After all, the biggest reason for the two of them to have these little secret dates was to relax a bit from their somewhat wild girlfriends. That and venting a bit about the things they usually come up with, which was a reason to keep the dates a secret. They were interrupted when Kyoko came to give a menu to Riko, who stopped her with a hand gesture.

“Dia has already decided what we’ll order today, Kyoko.”

“Yes. It’ll be a Red Soirée for her and a Chandelier for me. Thank you in advance,” Dia said as she handed her back her own menu.

A smile and a low bow later, she was gone to the preparation room.

“The Chandelier? You didn’t pick the least expensive flavors Dia. Are you that confident in your win this week?”

“Once you hear the story of what happened this Wednesday, you’ll be forced to admit your defeat my dear.”

“Don’t be so confident. Yoshiko had to prepare a lesson this week and let me tell you that it’ll probably let me get my tea for free this week.”

It was a challenge between them. They would tell their stories about the wild things their girlfriends did during the week and the one who had the best one would have the other pay for her drink.

“Tell me more,” Dia said with an expression meaning that she was still confident in her victory.

“Well, you know how Yoshiko always wants to start her lessons with a scientific experiment to capture her students’ attention and how she always tries the experiments first at home?”

“Yes, you already told me about the times when she set your hair on fire with a Bunsen burner, I remember that one.”

“Yes, me too. Even though the hair grew back, it’s not the same, you know. Sometimes, I am not sure if the crazy scientist is better or worse than the fallen angel… Well, it’s not like she stopped being a fallen angel anyway.”

“What did she do this time?” Dia asked laughing.

“She prepared a lesson about acids...”

“Oh no. I can only imagine the consequences of letting her play with such dangerous substances,” Dia said as she leant closer to listen with eve, more attention.

“At least she didn’t hurt anyone this time. However, the table my grandmother gave us for our dining room can’t say the same since there is now a five centimeters wide hole in the middle.”

“What? How did she do it? Wasn’t that table made of oak?”

“She tried making a bunch of solutions of various acidic levels during the evening while I was reading a book in the bedroom. When she was done, she left them on the table before joining me in our bed for the night. It could have been alright, but one of the test tubes fell and leaked on the table. It was one of the strongest ones of course, it couldn’t be a harmless one…”

“How did that happen?”

“No clue, but the result was there. I woke up before her, so I went to the kitchen to prepare our breakfast and saw the hole. I quickly searched for Prelude to make sure she didn’t get hurt. Luckily, she was still sleeping in her basket. I was afraid I’d hurt myself when I’d clean this up, so I went back to the bedroom, woke Yoshiko up and tasked miss chemistry-expert to clean the table while I prepared MY breakfast.”

“That’s cold, but deserved I guess,” Dia said, amused by the image of a dumbfounded Yoshiko cleaning chemical substances in the morning popping inside her head.

“I was very angry, you know. That table had survived the war, but it couldn’t survive a single year near Yoshiko. I still haven’t told my grandma about it yet. I don’t know how I’ll do it…”

“I’m sure it’ll be alright, Riko. Accidents happen and your grandma met Yoshiko a few times. I’m sure she’s already surprised it lasted that long.”

It was the moment chosen by Kyoko to come back with Dia and Riko’s teas. The Red Soirée had a very fruity smell, the odor reminding Riko of a day when she visited an orchard near Tokyo with her parents. Dia’s Chandelier had a strong bitter smell, making her wonder how close it actually could be to coffee. She smiled at the thought of Mari’s tastes progressively rubbing off on her. Once the two girls were served, Kyoko bowed and left them.

“Mmmmh, that smell really is wonderful,” Riko said as she started stirring her spoon inside of her cup, making the tea’s aroma float in the air around her. “You probably chose it well, Dia. Thank you.”

“Ah, if only my advice was more listened to at home.”

They both very slowly took a sip from their cups, delighted by the taste. Silence settled a bit between them as they took in the place’s atmosphere and let the classic music flow around them. These moments of calm, of perfect bliss, were part of the reason why these two friends chose the Rose Royale for their venting dates. Dia, her eyes closed to enjoy it even more, let out a deep sigh of pleasure.

“It seems like you really needed the break this week Dia. What did the light of your life do this time?”

Smiling, Dia put her cup back on the table. The week truly had been rough for her and she was impatient about telling why in an enhanced way .

“Well, most of my troubles came from work, organizing the fisher teams and stuff like that. But that’s true, Mari is partially responsible. Last week was really difficult for her too, so she needed softness. A lot of softness.”

“Oh?” Riko said, curious about the direction the conversation was taking.

“No, no, no, not that kind of softness!” Dia said, suddenly realizing the double meaning she didn’t intend to imply. “She just wanted hugs, staying comfy under blankets and other similar things.”

“Oh, I see…” Riko said, slightly disappointed.

“The thing is that I couldn’t really help her for that. You know, I’m not the best at showing my affection or hugging. And, on top of that, I had my own work-related issues and didn’t have the will to improve on a personal point of view.”

“That’s understandable,” Riko said, hiding her amusement about how Dia tended to overanalyze everything.

“So, she found a solution. A solution named Kanan…”

“What? She cheated on you? With Kanan? I thought that her and You were happy together…”

“No, you don’t get it,” Dia said with a smile meaning that the confusion was her goal with her storytelling. “She bought a sheep and named it Kanan. And now, every now and then, she goes to the garden of our house where the sheep is living and hugs it for ten entire minutes.”

“This… This is weird and adorable at the same time.”

“Imagine my face when I came back from work to see my girlfriend riding an adult sheep and hugging it in our garden.”

“I can picture that.”

“She didn’t even tell me about it before buying it! I guess that I now have to accept that we are the parents of a sheep named after the girl I considered my love rival during high school, the one who represented all of my own insecurities back then…”

“I’m sure Mari meant no harm with that.”

“She never does, just like Yoshiko, I guess. Yet, we always end up being the ones who have to accept their latest whims all the time, the ones who have to swallow our pain for the sake of their happiness…”

There was a moment of silence as they each delicately took a sip from their cups. Riko and Dia thought about the things they had to dealt with since the day they started dating their chaotic girlfriends. That introspection was quickly interrupted by the sound of Riko’s phone.

“Oh?” She said as she pulled her phone from her bag, recognizing the ringtone she had set for Yoshiko’s messages. “I’m sorry, Dia.”

Riko looked at the photo that Yoshiko had sent her. At first, she was shocked, but it only took her a few seconds to blush and smile, almost tearing up.

"What’s happening? More chaos?” Dia asked.

“Yes, exactly.” Riko answered as she showed Dia the photo Yoshiko had sent.

It was a picture of Yoshiko next to the dining table, the one she had ruined with her acids. She had put a bouquet of flowers inside of the hole, as if that hole was meant to be there from the very start. She was striking one of her fallen angel poses, thinking it would be a good idea to highlight the flowers. Riko thought it was.

“Tada! Behold the decoration skills of the great Yohane!” The message accompanying the image said. It was followed by another one, not as grandiloquent. “Please forgive my clumsy mortal coil my dearest honey <3 <3 <3.” 

“How is it possible to not forgive her?” Riko asked, already answering through her phone that Yoshiko was forgiven and adding even more heart emotes.

“As much as she drives me insane, I can’t imagine my life without Mari anymore,” Dia continued. “As much as I hate what I go through sometimes because of her, she makes my heart so much warmer-“

It was Dia’s phone’s turn to ring. Mari had sent her a video.

“May I see it too?” Riko asked, her curiosity definitely not sated.

“Sure, but you’re responsible for any traumatism resulting from what you’ll see in something Mari sent me,” Dia said as she moved closer so Riko could watch at the same time as her.

“That’s fair,” Riko said, laughing but wondering if Dia was serious or not.

Dia pressed the ‘play’ button on her phone’s screen. The video started with Mari, wearing one of her cow-girl hats, hugging the sheep in their garden. The sheep was wearing a matching hat.

“Hello sunshine!” Mari screamed at the camera while making a V-sign with her hand. “I noticed that you weren’t happy that I adopted little miss Kanan here. And I completely realize why.”

She let go of the sheep to move behind the camera. She grabbed a rope and pulled into the field of vision a white alpaca with a similar hat. Dia and Riko both gasped at the sight of the animal.

“It’s because you have to be one for you too! This girl right here comes from Otonokizaka. According to what I was told, Hanayo Koizumi from µ’s assisted her birth when she was still a student there, so I thought that’d make your fangirl side happy.”

Mari moved the camera a bit to reveal a group of workers building stables for the animals in the garden.

“We’ll only have to hang the signs with their names ourselves while these guys take care of the rest. I thought we could name yours Eli since you’re such a huge fan of her, even today. Also, my sheep doesn’t seem to like her name, so maybe it’s still early enough to rename her? I thought about Nozomi for her, so our two fluffy balls have matching names. We could talk about it once you’re back from the gym if you want to.”

Mari had an arm around the neck of each animal. To that, the sheep answered by licking her face and bleat at her. Mari fell on her butt in surprise, but she laughed it off.

“I really want you to see how good it feels to hug them, I’m sure you’ll like it. See you soon my love, bye.”

She then got up and moved to the camera. Before stopping the recording, Mari winked and blew a kiss in the air.

“Stupid Mari…” Dia said, the phone trembling in her grasp. “I have problems with you doing things on impulse and your answer is doing even more impulsive stuff…”

Riko was shocked by her reaction. She was about to scold Dia for her insensitivity but stopped when she looked at her face. Dia’s eyes were wet and her lips were showing a bright smile. Riko smiled herself, thinking how Dia’s words and feelings rarely aligned.

“I guess, that’ll do for this time though. I’ll… I’ll forgive her, but just this once,” she continued as she wiped her tears and touched her mole.

Riko thought back about the sudden name change for Mari’s sheep. She was wondering if Mari could have understood that Dia didn’t like the animal’s former name and that it was the real reason she decided to change it. As always with Mari, there was no way to know what happened inside of her head.

“They love us so much, in their own weird and explosive way,” Riko said as she put her phone back inside of her bag.

“It’s unfair… I can’t hold a grudge against her when she’s so cute and gentle…”

“We’ll have to continue enduring the bad parts to enjoy the best parts it seems. I guess that’s what it means to have an adult relationship with girls like these two.”

“You’re probably right Riko,” Dia said, bringing her cup to her lips before raising it in the air. “I raise this drink to our amazing girlfriends, who bring both light and darkness to our lives.”

“I raise this drink to our wonderful girlfriends, who will always put us into trouble, but who we will never regret helping or saving from themselves.” Riko continued.

As they said those words, they took another sip. The rest of their date was spent enjoying each other’s company with a calm atmosphere, a world away from their homes. They talked and laughed together about anything, enjoying their teas. When the time to leave came closer, Dia was the one who had to pay for the two of them, admitting that ruining ancient furniture was worse than adopting a sheep. She swore she’d get her revenge next week though, earning a chuckle from Riko.

The two young adults left the Rose Royale and hugged one last time, ready to face the jungle of dating a chaotic girlfriend for one more week. Dia went back to her car, her sport’s bag in her car’s boot, getting ready to face Eli the alpaca. Riko had hers on her shoulder and walked back to her apartment, thinking about her how she would explain the flowerpot-table to anyone who would visit their apartment. Dia and Riko were both already wondering what they’d have to tell the other the following week.


End file.
